The War of the Roil: The Knight and the Warlock

Prologue: Battle of the Ansami Isles

Hybald staggered to his feet on the tiny, rocky isle he had made a crater in, leaning on the curved saber in his hands. He lifted the metal visor on his helmet, breathing raggedly. The warm sensation of blood running down his cheek affirmed that he could still feel.

Just how many were there?

Hybald? Hybald! Are you alright? The voice of Nadriel, Hybald's guardian angel, came through him in his mind. Her soul was imbued in his weapon.

Hybald groaned, "How many Titanspawn are left?"

Thousands. They just keep streaming out of the rift. There's no end to them!

Hybald squinted, looking out at the vast ocean. A layer of dark clouds had been cast over the sea, sourced from a small crack in reality miles away.

The Knight placed his palm on the pommel of his saber, which held the tiny, but powerful crystal known as the Clarion Stone.

Energy flowed through Hybald's body, giving birth to a pair of pristine, white, feathered wings that extended from his back.

A single flap sent him soaring into the air, even with his full plate armor. He flew across the ocean, towards the site of the battle.

His nine other companions fought alongside the giant airships and war machines of the Resistance, all those in the world who dared make a stand against the Titans and their war on the gods.

Hybald reached his hands out, burning the massive well of arcane Flerical energy in his body, manifesting itself in a Truthfler. A patch of ocean surrounding one of the many decrepit galleons of scrap metal owned by the Titanspawn froze solid, trapping the vessel.

He landed upon their deck. Hideous creatures they were, writhing globs of flesh grafted together with metal. The Titanspawn, with their variable mandibles, claws and deformed bodies that looked like they could've once been human turned towards him.

Hybald flicked out his hand, sending a powerful wave of kinetic force out at them. Many were knocked over by the blast. The others rushed at him in a horde.

The Knight deflected the strikes that came at him from weapons and limbs with barely any effort before swinging his sword. The force of the blocked attacks was released to their senders, dismembering every standing Titanspawn in a twenty foot radius.

"Look out!" A male voice cried as The Architect, bearer of the Dragonscale shield slid in front of Hybald just as a small canister the size of his forearm hurtled towards them.

The canister hit the round shield of the Architect and unleashed a blinding white light that consumed the area around them.

When the light faded, the ocean crashed into the half-mile radius sphere of empty space left in its wake.

Hybald grabbed the Architect and launched them into the air as what remained of the ship sank into the water.

"What in the Roil was that?" Hybald asked.

"Miniature Dying Star." The Architect shouted, "We're lucky it wasn't as big as the one that hit Ansam."

"Have the Titans been sighted yet?"

"The Thief hasn't come back, so the Marksman went looking for him."

"I'm going to go survey the battle. If I find them, I want everyone to be ready." Hybald said, "I'll signal my location."

"Right!"

Hybald let the Architect down on the deck of a Resistance airship before taking off again.